[mufcwarm92]

200 million and you look more like Everton than when Moyes was in charge.

I'm happy with a point at this stage of the season considering how we'd normally get hammered in this fixture.

Err... Ok.

Nothing to support that, but carry on. This is your highest ebb in a decade and one of our lowest, yet the gap between the teams is minimal.

 

[gooDevil]

Pretty good for playing with 10 men.

 

[gooDevil]

Arsenal held without a shot in a half for the first time in ten years! Wow.

 

[Archie Leach]

Arsenal held without a shot in a half for the first time in ten years! Wow.

It took us a good long time against Swansea too. Giroud has gone right off the boil. He botched a couple of good chances today.

 

[Getsme]

1 win in 5 games, future is looking very bright indeed.

Top 4 guaranteed despite the shitty start to the season, you can also see the direction the team is going.

 

[gooDevil]

It took us a good long time against Swansea too. Giroud has gone right off the boil. He botched a couple of good chances today.

Impressive record for you guys, props.

 

[R'hllor]

Love how people use amount of money we spent last summer as something worth to consider in post match talk. For example you spend 200 mil. on 5 players,for some game those 5 are injured,you win/lose w/e and they drop bollox like " The amount of money they spent last summer,they should do better" or "there is not much of improvement" etc.

 

[Timdbro]

So disappointing how little we create when we're on top. In the short period Arsenal were on top they looked more dangerous than we had the whole match.

So many players today that should be backups at best next season, at least in the positions they played. Young, Mata as a winger, Fellaini, Blind at CM, Rojo at LB, Valencia at RB. Falcao is gone, which is how it should be. That's quite a few positions to sort out for next season, even though we'll hopefully have Rooney, Carrick and Shaw as first choice. Both wide forward positions (fingers crossed Depay can do it), RB, the left midfield position and maybe even a CB position are up for grabs.

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Love how people use amount of money we spent last summer as something worth to consider in post match talk. For example you spend 200 mil. on 5 players,for some game those 5 are injured,you win/lose w/e and they drop bollox like " The amount of money they spent last summer,they should do better" or "there is not much of improvement" etc.

Its an easy stick to beat us with because they cant be bothered to come up with genuine evidence for their argument from the game.

That said for the money we've spent, we should be a lot better than we are in all fairness.

 

[NinjaZombie]

He started with "dear fans...", which was a bit odd. He didn't really say anything interesting or suprising, Just thanked the fans.

After his Hitler impression at Bayern, was hoping to see him try Churchill at United.

 

[Asger]

I hope Rafael, Wilson, Januzaj and Di Maria does all start against Hull. And Pearson on bench!

 

[Sweet Square]

I hope Rafael, Wilson, Januzaj and Di Maria does all start against Hull. And Pearson on bench!

Sorry to break it to you but Rafael is injured.

 

[Asger]

Sorry to break it to you but Rafael is injured.

I thought LVG said that he is back but not ready to play against Arsenal.

 

[2 man midfield]

A top striker would improve this side so much. Falcao and Van Persie don't cut it.

 

[Sweet Square]

I thought LVG said that he is back but not ready to play against Arsenal.

Oh ok. You might be right, I didn't see the pre match pre match press conference.

 

[Kakeru]

That was a case of holding an opponent by the balls and yet not going for the kill because our strikers are totally out of their depths. Of course, we all knew what was going to happen when Blackett was sent on; our back line looked shaky with him on. Considering what was at stakes, I think that skipping the youngster development part was not too much asked.

 

[ricky-romeo]

brilliant first half, disappointing second.

 

[Gannicus]

It was a dead rubber match in all honesty, so the result doesn't bother me that much. Overall our performance was good enough to deserve victory, but it was far from it should be right now. The five game form guide now says three losses, a win and a draw. Not impressive.

For me, the disappointment was that we wasted an opportunity to play Wilson and Januzaj. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but it really waste to play Falcao and RvP. Fellaini could have been taken off for Januzaj.

Blackett was unlucky, not poor, today.

 

[MZX7]

Very disappointing last game at OT. This close to victory and then we go on and change our back line...why did we take off Rojo, again? Was he limping?

 

[newgiz]

Very disappointing last game at OT. This close to victory and then we go on and change our back line...why did we take off Rojo, again? Was he limping?

Think it maybe because it was his first match since a long while. LvG does that for players returning from injury.

 

[MZX7]

Think it maybe because it was his first match since a long while. LvG does that for players returning from injury.

Well he needs to stop doing that when we have a lead of 1 goal against an opposition who has the quality to level or go ahead.

Changing the back line always disrupts play. I strongly believe that it should be changed only if there is an injury or if some defender isn't doing well against an opponent.

Rojo was playing really well.

The game was there to be won.

Aaaaaaaaaaah!!! Shouldn't have let Wenger get away with this...shambolic performance by the Gunners...didn't deserve that goal...plus it becomes difficult for a young player to deal with it...

I think sometimes LvG is too rigid with his rules...

 

[JohnnyLaw]

It was a decent performance but of course frustrating that we couldn't finish it off when we were so dominant.

Arsenal throwin in another attacker while bringing off a defender was always going to change the game. I'm not quite content that we didn't take Mata off for Di maria at that time because we'd always be on the counter after that. Mata offers very little in such situations, having Di maria up there would've allowed us to remain threatening and to relieve some of the pressurw even as Arsenal moved up.

I think that it was more down to Arsenals subs than our subs that we lost our grip on the game but we should have been more active tactically when Arsenal changed their approach.

 

[Ducklegs]

They scored off a lucky deflection against a rusty goal keeper.

Other than that they were hopeless all over the pitch for most of the match.

Disappointing, but not really a lot that could of done.

 

[Catt]

1 win in 5 games, future is looking very bright indeed.

We got 4th wich most would be reasonably happy with before the season started, but now we have to build on that and challenge again next season. It's not crazy to suggest with the right players coming in, we'll be up there again.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but I loved the runs and positional play Falcao, Fellaini, Herrera and Mata made for our goal. The cross came in and Falcao went near, Fellaini was in the middle and drew 2 men in to mark him (and the goalkeepers attention) and Herrera filled in at the far post as Mata pulled onto the penalty spot.

It was superb attacking movement. Every zone was covered and it was a percentage win that regardless of the quality of the delivery, 1 of our players would make something happen with it in reality.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tactical movement and training drills showed.

 

[Kostur]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but I loved the runs and positional play Falcao, Fellaini, Herrera and Mata made for our goal. The cross came in and Falcao went near, Fellaini was in the middle and drew 2 men in to mark him (and the goalkeepers attention) and Herrera filled in at the far post as Mata pulled onto the penalty spot.

It was superb attacking movement. Every zone was covered and it was a percentage win that regardless of the quality of the delivery, 1 of our players would make something happen with it in reality.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Tactical movement and training drills showed.

Think it was highlighted by broadcaster in some replay, they've made those dotted lines of Herrera and Fellaini runs, they've made a cross-change because it's usually Fellaini that lands at the far post when Young crosses. Fellaini took Monreal and iirc Mertesacker with him and Herrera was in the right place. It's those little things that LVG's surely happy about and that warrant Fellaini a place in the squad.

On a sidenote, what the hell was wrong with the pitch yesterday? Everybody was slipping, it was not the usual suspect of Falcao that went to the ground more often than not, even Arse players were slipping and I think there was one of them that was changing his boots after first 10 minutes or so.

 

[bishblaize]

The thing that stood out for me is that, of the 10 outfield players, only Herrera & Mata are truly top quality players. (Not based on yesterday alone, over the season & beyond). None of the rest would have any of the teams from the business end of the Champions League getting their chequebooks out.

Fellaini, Young & Blind have all had good seasons and have contributed, but none are top level players. Of the four defenders, none of them are without important flaws, even ignoring injury records. As for Falcao - give the man a set of studs. And a plane ticket to Monaco, with our best wishes.

Swap out Young for Depay, Fellaini for Pogba, Jones for Hummels, Valencia for Alves, Falcao for Rooney, Blind for Carrick, Rojo for Shaw (or the muppet fantasies of your choice) and you'd be looking at a huge upgrade in talent on the pitch.

Marry that up with the team ethic we've seen in the last quarter of the season and you'll have a team that is well able to make the jump from top four challengers to title challengers.

 

[mark_a]

A good performance from us EXCEPT for the cutting edge that should have seen us score more than 1 goal. If you don't score, you don't win. Considering how much we played them off the field and got just the 1 point, it's a disappointment, BUT after our recent wobble and guaranteed 4th, it's at least encouraging.

Something good to build on, but build we must.

 

[Rob Bowman]

Think it was highlighted by broadcaster in some replay, they've made those dotted lines of Herrera and Fellaini runs, they've made a cross-change because it's usually Fellaini that lands at the far post when Young crosses. Fellaini took Monreal and iirc Mertesacker with him and Herrera was in the right place. It's those little things that LVG's surely happy about and that warrant Fellaini a place in the squad.

On a sidenote, what the hell was wrong with the pitch yesterday? Everybody was slipping, it was not the usual suspect of Falcao that went to the ground more often than not, even Arse players were slipping and I think there was one of them that was changing his boots after first 10 minutes or so.

Mata's run is the one that wrecks the back line. He dragged the wide man to Fellaini and Herrera ghosted to the back post while Fellani kept them all occupied.

But it's Mata's run that most people will never notice that make all the difference on the pitch.

 

[R'hllor]

Well he needs to stop doing that when we have a lead of 1 goal against an opposition who has the quality to level or go ahead.

Changing the back line always disrupts play. I strongly believe that it should be changed only if there is an injury or if some defender isn't doing well against an opponent.

Rojo was playing really well.

The game was there to be won.

Aaaaaaaaaaah!!! Shouldn't have let Wenger get away with this...shambolic performance by the Gunners...didn't deserve that goal...plus it becomes difficult for a young player to deal with it...

I think sometimes LvG is too rigid with his rules...

Rojo did not play really well in 2nd half,few times he was slow with offside line,after which he needed to recover and fix his own mistakes. For LvG health of his own players is really important,so there is a good reason why he is pulling them out of game after 1h or so.

 

[rover]

in old days when arsenal had petit & vieira in their midfield, they were always very hard to play against with. during the last several years we could manage many wins against them by setting them up with some swift counters. however, i can never recall we had ever outplayed them in field play and probably yesterday was the first time we could do that. just correct me if i'm wrong

the result is not desire but i'm not unhappy of our performance

 

[DomesticTadpole]

As LvG said we have to kill games off, now does he mean score more goals or defend better. I would have thought the former. So get us some proper firepower up front. I would love to know how many goals have come from the forwards(not including Wayne's goals when he was playing as a midfielder) and what the midfielders have contributed. The forwards tally should be a lot higher, but I highly doubt it is.

 

[pete_8]

We still look like a fighter with out a knock out punch at times. Need a goalscorer. RVP nor Falcao are not doing it at present. Rooney yes but when he doesn't play or gets dragged back into midfield we look toothless. Should have put Arsenal to bed in the first half.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We still look like a fighter with out a knock out punch at times. Need a goalscorer. RVP nor Falcao are not doing it at present. Rooney yes but when he doesn't play or gets dragged back into midfield we look toothless. Should have put Arsenal to bed in the first half.

I would have brought Wilson on for his pace, even if we were dinking balls over the top it would have had Arsenals defence in trouble.

 

[Adcuth]

Would of much prefered Young going to LB and Januzaj coming on rather than the way LVG went.

 

[Dr Fink]

Arsenal exploited a weakness we had. There were three instances of it - a right footed, curling towards goal pass in the inside right position. It caught Rojo out all three times; the last one, he just managed to hoof it over the bar. LVG brought Blackett on and surely must have instructed him to be wary of it. Wenger brought Walcott on and persisted with THAT pass. The result - their lucky deflected goal. Blackett was out of position.

We deserved to win yesterday. I felt deflated coming out of the ground. Bizarre short speech at the end by LVG. Young was immense, credit to him. Herrera was close behind, as was Smalling. Jones was dreadful, almost Evans-esque. Falcao seemed to have banana skins on his feet. They were there for the taking yesterday. Better team with possession and chances for 60 mins. The injury to De Gea disrupted us - I think ADM was going to come on until then.

On the really positive side, I think we will see a really different Utd team next season. LVG's team and squad. He will have the players he wants and a style and type of play that he will have instilled in to his players over a full pre-season. Oh and some snazzy Adidas strips too!

 

[mu77]

Pretty good for playing with 10 men.

this - twice with the sub for the nothing player doing nothing

 

[Raw]

https://******/QiTG

Van Gaal after the game

 

[Tincanalley]

in old days when arsenal had petit & vieira in their midfield, they were always very hard to play against with. during the last several years we could manage many wins against them by setting them up with some swift counters. however, i can never recall we had ever outplayed them in field play and probably yesterday was the first time we could do that. just correct me if i'm wrong

the result is not desire but i'm not unhappy of our performance

I agree, sir.

 

[Tincanalley]

I was at the match and haven't seen the TV replays. Impressions: Fellaini was a beast, the team were brilliant in midfield and defence in the first half, first to all the 50-50's, and Arsenal looked beaten. An awful lot of offsides given against us, especially second half; hard to know at the match whether all were good, some looked suspect, and Mata argued one vehemently. I gave MOTM to Young, but it could have gone to Herrera or Fellaini or Mata just as easily. Yea, people slipping a lot (certainly not just Falcao); the pitch was heavily watered before the match. It didn't rain on the day, though. Their goal was just a total fluke, but we should have converted one of our five or six chances. I can't believe the people in here saying who are top class and who are not, just demonstrates their cluelessness; likewise those getting on the back of Blackett or Falcao. United for the ninety minutes looked the more committed and the more skilful side; they beat Arsenal in the possession stakes. This is the Arsenal that everone has been gasping about for the last couple of games. Some lovely one-touch stuff that just needed a sprinkle of luck, as it turned out lady luck was smiling on the Londoners.

And remember this was a United shorn of the spiritual spine of Carrick and Rooney. It's a great sign to see (despite the De Gea saga; a bit of a sad story) this level of togetherness. Finally, great song by the supporters in the East Stand greeting Victor Valdez to the tune of Guantanamera.